Disinformation spread to mainstream channels in what experts call deliberate ‘informational warfare’
As missiles and drones crisscrossed the night skies above India and Pakistan earlier this month, another invisible war was taking place.
Not long after the Indian government announced Operation Sindoor, the military offensive against Pakistan triggered by a militant attack in Kashmir that Delhi blamed on Islamabad, reports of major Pakistani defeats began to circulate online.
What began as disparate claims on social media platforms such as X soon became a cacophony of declarations of India’s military might, broadcast as “breaking news” and “exclusives” on the country’s biggest news programmes.
According to these posts and reports, India had variously shot down multiple Pakistani jets, captured a Pakistani pilot as well as Karachi port and taken over the Pakistani city of Lahore. Another false claim was that Pakistan’s powerful military chief had been arrested and a coup had taken place. “We’ll be having breakfast in Rawalpindi tomorrow,” was a widely reshared post in the midst of hostilities, referring to the Pakistani city where its military is headquartered.
Many of these claims were accompanied by footage of explosions, crumbling structures and missiles being shot from the sky. The problem was, none of them were true.
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